FIFA released the draw procedures for the 2019 World Cup on Monday, October 1, 2018. The draw will take place in Paris on December 8, 2018, with the following procedures followed:

Teams will be placed into pots based on FIFA’s world rankings released on December 7, 2018;

Six groups of four teams will be drawn. With the exception of teams from UEFA, groups will contain only one team from each confederation (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC; UEFA teams take up nine slots.)

Thus, groups will have one but can’t have more than two European teams.

Tokyo 2020

Also announced by FIFA is the possible participation of a women’s team from Great Britain in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The football associations of the four home nations signaled their intent to allow Team GB to participate in the Games with England nominated as the country seeking qualification.

FIFA Calendar

The FIFA calendar for the summer of 2019 is interesting:

On July 7, 2019 the final for the Women’s World Cup takes place. FIFA has also scheduled the final for Copa América and the CONCACAF Gold Cup on that day. The latter two finals are for regional tournaments, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, respectively.

World Cup final > regional tournament finals. FIFA would never schedule the men’s World Cup final to compete with anything else, including regional tournament play.

Possible Prize Money Increase

FIFA announced the possibility of increasing the prize money for the 2019 World Cup. The proposal for increased prize money will need to be approved by the FIFA Council after being reviewed by FIFA’s finance committee. The FIFA Council is scheduled to meet on October 26, 2018.